Gabe's Guardian Angels

Welcome to Gabe's JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes fundraising page!  We'll be taking part in this year?s Walk to raise funds to improve the lives of all people affected by type 1 diabetes (T1D).  If you ask people with T1D, they will tell you it is difficult and life threatening.  And they know it never goes away.

Gabe and our lives were forever changed on November 20th, 2012.  We brought him in to the hospital for the what we thought was the flu that wouldn't go away.  An hour after we were checked in the Doctor told us that Gabe had Type 1 Diabetes.  Our first question was..what is diabetes?  Not knowing anyone with T1D, we didn't know what this meant for our 2 year old.  Our doctor filled us in as best he could and then told us they would have to transfer Gabe to a specialist.  Due to Gabe being in Diabetic Ketoacidosis, he was transferred by ambulance to Mayo Hospital in Rochester, MN.  How scary to be riding in an ambulance with your 2 year old.  Gabe was so strong and such a trooper.

The week we spent at Mayo is a blurr.  We were pumped with so much information and when Gabe seemed strong enough to discharge, we were sent on our way.  There we were, at home with a 2 year old diabetic, not really understanding what we were doing.  His life is completely in our hands.  We give him two shots of insulin, one in the morning before breakfast and one at night before supper.  We are administering finger pricks to check his blood sugar at least 6 times per day and up to 15 times a day.  No one, let a lone a 2 year old, should ever have to go through this.

We have had such amazing support from our family and friends!  Without the help of my Mom who took over 2 weeks of school off, my Dad who was at our house almost daily helping out and Curt's parents who were their anytime we made a phone call, we couldn't have kept it together.  We have amazing brothers and sisters who checked on Gabe daily with a visit or a phone call.  The best medicine for Gabe was the visits from his cousins and our close friend's kids.  We are so lucky to have such a close friend group that have shown Gabe such love and support.

Gabe, Curt and I are facing new challenges every day.  We continue to learn more with time.  Gabe has a wonderful, strong father who has given up most of his free time to do research on Diabetes.  We are continuing the battle to stabillize Gabe's blood sugar, but every day gets a little better.

Our new goal in life is to keep our son healthy and make sure he leads a normal life.  We want him to do all the things a normal 2 year old does and grow up to do things a normal teenager and adult does.  We want him to play any sport, play an instrument, go to overnight birthday parties, spend the day at the beach swimming and more.  We feel like participating in this walk is our first step to ensuring Gabe a happy, healthy and normal life.  And hopefully someday he will be living a life without needles and finger pricks.

Thank you to everyone who joins us in the walk for Diabetes or who donates to JDRF.  We will forever be grateful for your support!

Gabe, Curt & Molly